UFAs after next season: Ward, Beagle, Volpatti, Erskine, Hillen. (Plus, Fehr, but he should get another contract).

Coming in we might see see Barber, Burakovsky, and Bowey. All three won’t pan out, but it’ll definitely be interesting.

Plus Wilson and Kuznetsov getting more ice, Grabo healthy (I think he’ll get a longer contract), and some vet defense.

On the other hand, Ovi will continue to age.

Matt Lauer

There do seem to be rumblings that Burakovsky could be in the mix.

While I recognize the aging thing, I don’t think Ovi’s production will catastrophically collapse. (Not saying you do, either.) Peter Bondra had a 50-goal season as a 31-year old.

Lawrence

As always well done Peter, well done. I think you touched on something that has a lot to do with the idea of fans in sports. Sometimes it seems like the end of the world, your team is slipping downward to the number 1 overall pick, but all it takes is a few lucky games and that mindset completely changes.

After hearing you guys talk, I had to think for a second. You know what? The caps somehow still have a shot to turn this season around. Considering how this season has felt so far, that’s just crazy to think about. Would certainly be an interesting scenario if this team suddenly started playing well.

Until that happens though, I still think this team has some major issues lmao. Here’s to getting lucky.

Patrick Neimeyer

As always Peter, a factual juggernaut but I could not help mentioning your “yellow-tinted,” glasses. While these do improve night vision and perhaps Mike Green’s defensive puck-awareness…I noticed now that even movie stars have now caught onto your fashion statement 🙂